White House may seek to slash NASA’s science budget by 50 percent

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publiusr said:
It's just like Halley in 86'
Everyone had a probe--except the United States...and that they want to scuttle...and not just the liner in Mobile that's due for a deep-six.
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You have to remember, it's "America First" these days, *NOT* "Science/Exploration First"...
 
Make of that update posted below what you will. They know Congress won’t pass these cuts.

In another sign that the Trump White House is aggressively moving to slash NASA’s science programs, dozens of mission leaders have been asked to prepare "closeout" plans by the end of next week.
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Instead, based on the budget process to date and statements from the White House, they view the memos as an effort by the Trump administration to move forward with canceling as many NASA science missions as possible before Congress passes a budget for the upcoming fiscal year, 2026. This fiscal year begins on October 1, three months from today.
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But there very likely is a more cynical plan at play here. The Office of Management and Budget, led by Russ Vought, has been seeking to cut the US government's science portfolio across the board, and it fully expects a continuing resolution to be adopted as Congress almost certainly won't have a budget signed.
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This year, in fact, the Office of Management and Budget has even stopped NASA from submitting operational plans to Congress.

"This is yet another bad faith move by the administration, which seems hell-bent on attacking science and the future of American innovation," said Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.), who previously served as NASA's chief of staff. "To go around Congress, and the committee of jurisdiction that I sit on, to enact their radical agenda that will make us less safe, less competitive, and less able to respond to threats is not only dangerous, it will cede all ground to our adversaries like China."
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arstechnica.com

White House works to ground NASA science missions before Congress can act

We would be turning off some fabulous missions that are doing extremely well."
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

An update has been added to the article:

(Update: After publication of this article, NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens denied Hughes had said this. "This is either a misinterpretation or mischaracterization of Brian's words," she said. "Brian has issued no guidance stating that the PBR [the President's budget request] will become the operating plan for NASA prior to Congressional authorization of a budget.")
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Who is/are the bone-headed idiot(s) pushing for all of these cancellation of various NASA science missions?
 
NMaude said:
Who is/are the bone-headed idiot(s) pushing for all of these cancellation of various NASA science missions?
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See this quote from the article.

But there very likely is a more cynical plan at play here. The Office of Management and Budget, led by Russ Vought, has been seeking to cut the US government's science portfolio across the board, and it fully expects a continuing resolution to be adopted as Congress almost certainly won't have a budget signed.
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Flyaway said:
See this quote from the article.
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So it would appear that the villain in question is this Russ Vought, I looked up his wikipedia page and a quick look was disturbing:

A self-described Christian nationalist, Vought is the founder of the Center for Renewing America,[1] an organization that opposes critical race theory[2] and advocates for the idea of America as a "nation under God".[1] He has also played a significant role in Project 2025, an initiative led by the Heritage Foundation that aims to advance conservative policies and reshape the federal government.[3] In May 2024, he was appointed Policy Director of the Republican National Committee's platform committee.
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This individual clearly has no business holding any sort of public office whether elected or appointed.
 
NMaude said:
So it would appear that the villain in question is this Russ Vought, I looked up his wikipedia page and a quick look was disturbing:



This individual clearly has no business holding any sort of public office whether elected or appointed.
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Heritage Foundation has a direct line to Sons/Daughters/Whatevers of the Confederacy, and thus to Confederate military forces. These people have absolutely always been traitors to our country, and now they've been "elected" to run it into the ground at the behest of our enemies overseas.
 
Trump Megabill Includes Billions for Artemis, ISS, Moving A Space Shuttle to Texas And More:

Trump Megabill Includes Billions for Artemis, ISS, Moving A Space Shuttle to Texas And More

Posted: July 3, 2025 6:57 pm ET | Last Updated: July 5, 2025 5:08 pm ET | Congress passed Trump's megabill, or the reconciliation bill, that will have broad effects on spending and revenue. For NASA, the bill includes $10 billion mostly for programs Trump wants to eliminate in the FY2026 budget...
spacepolicyonline.com

https://twitter.com/x/status/1940909224093192616
View: https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1940909224093192616
 
The likely costs and potential for damage to the Space Shuttle Discovery as proposed under the Big Beautiful bill.

www.independent.co.uk

Space Shuttle is set to be moved out of Smithsonian and to Texas

President Donald Trump’s bill will allocate $85 million to transport the Discovery space shuttle from the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum to Space Center Houston
www.independent.co.uk www.independent.co.uk
 
Byeman said:
that is wrong. The bill says space vehicle.
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The language in the bill is less specific, but Cruz and Texas’s other Senator, John Cornyn (R), already have introduced legislation that makes clear what they intend.
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Trump Megabill Includes Billions for Artemis, ISS, Moving A Space Shuttle to Texas And More

Posted: July 3, 2025 6:57 pm ET | Last Updated: July 5, 2025 5:08 pm ET | Congress passed Trump's megabill, or the reconciliation bill, that will have broad effects on spending and revenue. For NASA, the bill includes $10 billion mostly for programs Trump wants to eliminate in the FY2026 budget...
spacepolicyonline.com
 
Flyaway said:

Trump Megabill Includes Billions for Artemis, ISS, Moving A Space Shuttle to Texas And More

Posted: July 3, 2025 6:57 pm ET | Last Updated: July 5, 2025 5:08 pm ET | Congress passed Trump's megabill, or the reconciliation bill, that will have broad effects on spending and revenue. For NASA, the bill includes $10 billion mostly for programs Trump wants to eliminate in the FY2026 budget...
spacepolicyonline.com
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Not correct. Read the date (June 11). That was the original bill and it never went through. The watered down remains were incorporated in the spending bill.
 
Byeman said:
Not correct. Read the date (June 11). That was the original bill and it never went through. The watered down remains were incorporated in the spending bill.
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Incorrect did you even look at the link to the other legislation mentioned in my post quoted above?
 
Eric Berger speculates that Duffy has been appointed as he’s likely to carry out Vought’s wish to slash the science budget and staffing even if Senate tries to restore the cuts. Including senior staff in the moon & Mars areas.

He has most likely been appointed interim Administrator to carry out the President's "vision" of a moon-focused, science-depleted NASA. If he is there to enforce recession, then he can make sure all of the President's requests are de-facto policy by forcing people out and closing down programs before the Budget is approved. Even if Congress approves more funding, the damage will have already been done.

arstechnica.com

Here’s why Trump appointed the secretary of transportation to lead NASA

Honored to accept this mission. Time to take over space. Let’s launch."
arstechnica.com arstechnica.com

Also over 2000 senior NASA staff are expected to leave.

 
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Scientists Rally Support for NASA as Appropriators Begin Markups:

Scientists Rally Support for NASA as Appropriators Begin Markups

Posted: July 8, 2025 4:59 pm ET | Last Updated: July 8, 2025 5:04 pm ET | Seven former directors of NASA's Science Mission Directorate are urging Congress not to cut the science budget by 47 percent as proposed by President Trump in the FY2026 budget request.
spacepolicyonline.com
 
Flyaway said:
Eric Berger speculates that Duffy has been appointed as he’s likely to carry out Vought’s wish to slash the science budget and staffing even if Senate tries to restore the cuts. Including senior staff in the moon & Mars areas.
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If that is the case then this Duffy character needs to be forced out ASAP.
 
Senate Appropriators Poised to Reject Proposed NASA Budget Cuts, But…:

However, consideration of the bill came to a halt because of a Van Hollen amendment to prevent the Trump Administration from moving the FBI headquarters to the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, DC instead of a new campus in Greenbelt, MD. Debate has been ongoing for years about where a new FBI HQ should be located with a competition between Maryland and Virginia. After a lengthy process run by the General Services Administration, Greenbelt won. The lion’s share of the funding needed is in the appropriations bill that funds the GSA, but some is in the CJS bill. Van Hollen is fighting to ensure that it is spent only to pay for putting the new HQ in Greenbelt.
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Separately, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) introduced but immediately withdrew an amendment he calls “Houston we have a problem.” Durbin is exasperated at a provisionin the just-passed reconciliation bill that allocates $85 million to move space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA, to Houston, TX. He asked NASA and the Smithsonian how much it would actually cost to do that and their answer was $305 million. Durbin said this isn’t a transfer, but a “heist by Texas because they lost the competition 12 years ago.” Senators frequently offer and then withdraw amendments in order to get a point of view on the record.
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Senate Appropriators Poised to Reject Proposed NASA Budget Cuts, But…

Posted: July 10, 2025 7:27 pm ET | Last Updated: July 10, 2025 8:42 pm ET | The Senate Appropriations Committee plans to reject the deep cuts to NASA's budget proposed by the Trump Administration, but considering of the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill was stalled today because of a fight...
spacepolicyonline.com
 
House Appropriators Also Reject Trump-Proposed NASA Cuts, Fund National Space Council:

House Appropriators Also Reject Trump-Proposed NASA Cuts, Fund National Space Council

Posted: July 14, 2025 6:14 pm ET | Last Updated: July 14, 2025 7:11 pm ET | The House Appropriations Committee is rejecting the deep cuts to NASA proposed by the Trump Administration, just like its Senate counterpart. It would keep NASA funded at its current level instead of a 24.3 percent cut.
spacepolicyonline.com
 
Russ Vought: Appropriations process ‘has to be less bipartisan’:

Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought isn’t interested in giving assurances to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the White House will abide by any bipartisan spending agreements made this year.

“The appropriations process has to be less bipartisan,” Vought told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast Thursday. [...]

When specifically asked if he would reassure Democratic appropriators that the White House would abide by bipartisan spending agreements or commit to not using rescissions on future appropriations bills, he simply said he would not.

“There is no voter in the country that went to the polls and said, ‘I’m voting for a bipartisan appropriations process,’” Vought said. “That may be the view of something that appropriators want to maintain.”

He did, however, acknowledge that federal spending power lies with Congress.

“It is one of the most constitutional foundational principles, but that power of the purse does not mean [...] — It’s a ceiling. It is not a floor,” he said.
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From NSF:

The President has a right to propose rescissions of appropriated funds that haven't been spent which is the point of the post and of the article (and many Presidents have proposed rescissions in the past). If Congress doesn't approve of the proposed recission within 45 days, the funds then get spent. More cuts to appropriated funds in FY25 and FY26 should be expected through recission packages but hopefully no rescissions of NASA funding will be proposed by the President. The advantage for the executive (and thus OMB) of proposing spending cuts through recissions is that only 50 Senators plus the VP are necessary to implement these cuts whereas cuts through appropriations bills require the approval of 60 Senators which they are unlikely to get.

In any event, it seems that the Trump II Administration wants to use recissions more often than other Presidents have in the past, so this could be relevant for some cuts in NASA funding. It's hard to say at this point but this might be relevant for certain science cuts such as certain Earth science missions or STEM Education funding which are less popular with Republicans in Congress.
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according to sources at NASA JPL an effort is underway to get rid of their satellite inventory. JPL staff have been directed to start to prepare order and bidding forms for satellites so that they can be ready for sale to the highest bidder. In essence this is a ‘going out of business sale’ for JPL satellites that are supposed to be decommissioned. This sale includes including OCO-2, OCO-3, and payloads on the ISS. JPL is interested in government and private sector buyers.
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nasawatch.com

Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites

an effort is underway to get rid of their satellite inventory
nasawatch.com nasawatch.com

Update on the earlier post Going Out Of Business Sale For JPL Satellites: emails are circulating within JPL and NASA that mention a number of satellites that are listed as being targeted for shut down in the President’s FY 2026 budget request. NASA HQ is apparently not waiting for an actual budget. The list of satellites of the discount rack at NASA now includes OCO-2, OCO-3, SAGE III, CLARREO-Pathfinder, GLIMR, DSCOVR, CYGNSS, Terra, Aqua, Aura, and GeoCarb. Stay tuned for more bargains!
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nasawatch.com

But Wait: More Used Satellite Bargains At NASA

More Used Satellite Bargains At NASA
nasawatch.com nasawatch.com
 
Marshall I consider part of Reconstruction--otherwise it is all football here in Alabama--yuck ;)

Now, might any of those JPL craft become a quick and dirty comet interceptor?
 
publiusr said:
Marshall I consider part of Reconstruction--otherwise it is all football here in Alabama--yuck ;)
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the Army could have chosen a better base but likely, the outdated engineering and management environment would have persisted anywhere.
publiusr said:
Now, might any of those JPL craft become a quick and dirty comet interceptor?
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no, most are in earth orbit
 
Senate Appropriators Join House in Opposing Trump’s NASA Cuts:

Senate Appropriators Join House in Opposing Trump’s NASA Cuts

Posted: July 20, 2025 2:57 pm ET | Last Updated: July 20, 2025 3:42 pm ET | The Senate appropriations committee is in overall agreement with its House counterpart to keep NASA funded at its current level instead of the deep cut of $6 billion proposed by President Trump.
spacepolicyonline.com
 
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